Wagner coach Pete Gibbens has one extra task in preparation for his game Saturday:

Make sure somebody has a recording of the Mexican national anthem.

The Thunderbirds' opponent this week is Monterrey Tech, a private school in Mexico playing its fifth game in Texas this season.

The Borrejos — Spanish for Rams — are one of the best high school football teams in Mexico, and face a similar problem as top Texas teams do. Nobody nearby wants to play them.

The best Mexican competition is more than 500 miles away in Mexico City or Puebla, so they've been coming to Texas since 1996.

But stories about Mexican cartels caused three games to be canceled last year.

According to the Austin American-Statesman, a game against Round Rock Stony Point was called off after Monterrey Tech received an anonymous phone call demanding $30,000 to safely cross the border.

Games against Austin Travis and Gregory-Portland were called off, according to the Statesman, when an Austin ISD official read a newspaper story about cartels and when Gregory-Portland's superintendent saw a TV report on the cartels.

Monterrey Tech coach Roberto Rodriguez denies the story about the phone call. He's spent this season assuring opposing coaches that there won't be any travel issues.

They've traveled by bus to all their games this season.

“We have all the contracts from the games and we show those at the border,” he said. “All the border patrol is football fans.”

This week's game is the first time Monterrey Tech has faced an area team since it played Medina Valley in 2005.

Monterrey Tech's opponents this season include some traditional powers such as The Woodlands, Dallas Highland Park and Aledo.

The Borrejos faced Allen in 2008, which tops Rodriguez's wish list of teams he'd like to play again. Rodriguez said the games are secondary for his players to the Texas high school football experience. And he'd love to coach in Allen's new $60 million stadium.

Gibbens said he knew there were some concerns with scheduling Monterrey Tech, but he wasn't worried. He wants to give his team the unique experience of interacting with a team from another country.

It's rare for a coach to say he doesn't care as much about winning, but Rodriguez says it. With constant fears about the cartels in Mexico, Rodriguez sees a football game as a chance to represent Mexico in a positive light. The Borrejos (1-3) may have plenty of different challenges in Monterrey, but Rodriguez wants to show that his players are just like Wagner's.

“We want to win,” Rodriguez said. “But the more important thing is that we want to leave a good impression.”